If you are one of those who cringes when you hear assertions such as that "we are descending into fascism," then read the following and please tell us why this is not a factual assessment of the Bush Administration play for Stalin-style absolute powers" The White House is seeking legislation that would allow people not affiliated with terrorism to be prosecuted in military commissions -- with far fewer rights than afforded civilians."

This is a proposal that should send shivers down the spine of anyone who values freedom and justice.

The notion that the Bush Administration was implementing a draconian amputation of our Constitution on behalf of fighting terrorism has long been revealed as something quite different. They are using terrorism and fear to amass unprecedented authoritarian powers compatible with a dictatorship and antithetical to the very concept of democracy.

Let us tell you more about this latest incremental power grab to implement a Pinochet/Stalin/Franco style authoritarian rule, where the individual is subject to the whims of the dictatorship: "A draft Bush administration plan for special military courts seeks to expand the reach and authority of such 'commissions' to include trials, for the first time, of people who are not al Qaeda members or the Taliban and are not directly involved in acts of international terrorism, according to officials familiar with the proposal plan."

And there's more about the effort to undue the American revolution and restore a tyrannical Monarchy: "Under the proposed procedures, defendants would lack rights to confront accusers, exclude hearsay accusations, or bar evidence obtained through rough or coercive interrogations. They would not be guaranteed a public or speedy trial and would lack the right to choose their military counsel, who in turn would not be guaranteed equal access to evidence held by prosecutors."

The Bush Administration continues to offer America only two choices: the risks of freedom or the despotic rule of tyranny. Neither of them offers us absolute security, and the latter almost ensures long-term wars and death, as well as the suspension of our Constitution.

We are now down to the raw basics of a complete power grab by a clique of thuggish rulers who cannot govern or provide basic security. All they can do is excel at using fear to accumulate the powers of a despotic and merciless government.

Those too timid to fight for liberty in Congress should get out of the way.

It's dusk in America -- and we only have a few twilight hours to save democracy and our Constitution.